Poetics

A short, compressed treatise, probably lecture notes, on poetry as imitation (mimesis), concentrating on tragedy. Aristotle argues that imitation is natural to humans and a source of learning and pleasure. He defines tragedy as the imitation of a serious, complete action of some magnitude, which through pity and fear accomplishes a catharsis of such emotions, a word whose meaning has been argued over for centuries. Of tragedy's six parts, plot comes first and character second. The best plots turn on reversal and recognition and show a person who is not wicked falling into misfortune through some error (hamartia); Sophocles' Oedipus the King is his favourite example. He also claims that poetry is more philosophical than history, because it deals with universals rather than particulars. A second book, on comedy, is lost.

Nearly every later theory of drama, from Renaissance critics to screenwriting manuals, starts by agreeing or arguing with it, and it is short enough to read in an afternoon.